Dave Grohl Compares 17-Year-Old Pop Singer to Nirvana [Update]

Does the name Billie Eilish ring a bell for you? The 17-year-old vocalist has made inroads at both pop and alternative radio and among her fans is Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl, who offered a lofty comparison about her rapid rise to fame.

Grohl, who was part of a meteoric rise himself while playing with Nirvana, says that what he's seeing out of Eilish reminds him of what Nirvana went through. Speaking at a Pollstar Live conference, Grohl stated (as transcribed by Variety), "My daughters are obsessed with Billie Eilish. The same thing is happening with her that happened with Nirvana in 1991. People say, ‘Is rock dead?’ When I look at someone like Billie Eilish, rock and roll is not close to dead!”

Reflecting on his own introduction to Nirvana, before he joined the band, Grohl recalled, "“I saw them at a show and I thought, 'That’s Nirvana. Oh my god.' It was like Children of the Corn,” he recalled. “With Scream, we never had anything successful. Nirvana had great songs. ‘About a Girl’ was like a Beatles song. It was clear that dude could write songs.”

As for Eilish, the singer is currently working toward the March 29 release of her new studio album, When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? The disc features the songs "You Should See Me in a Crown," "When the Party's Over" and the most recent offering, "Bury a Friend."

Update: After Dave Grohl's comments on Billy Eilish made the rounds, the singer felt the need to clarify what was said at the Pollstar Live conference as he felt the story had not been reported in full context. His comments from the event are listed below: